The Ray White Echuca success story can’t be attributed to any one individual - several people have played key roles in turning it into the biggest and most successful real estate office in the local region.
It’s a great story of effective succession planning combined with an acquisition of another local business and the subsequent merger of the two.
Heather and Handel Aubrey opened Ray White Echuca in 1999 with a plan to grow the sales team. Stephen Morgan was new to the real estate industry and one of the first salespeople to join the office. He was looking for a change after seven years in the motor vehicle industry as a specialist in sales, finance and insurance.
Unfortunately Handel was struck by health issues shortly after Stephen’s employment, effectively catapulting Stephen into the role of sales manager within just six months. By 2003 Handel’s health issues were continuing; he decided it was unfair to expect Stephen to continue to shoulder management responsibility without a reasonable share of the profits. In a shining example of good succession planning, he sold Stephen a 50% share of the business.
The previous year in 2002, another star performer had joined the sales team. Although also new to real estate, Lynn Hall had previously owned a retail baby goods shop and so was well versed in sales and business management. Property was a new game but one she learned and excelled at quickly, making the top five Ray White salespeople in the state within just two years.
By 2004 the business was doing well and there was a stable team in place. Handel and Stephen decided the time was right to bring a third partner into the business. Once again the best candidate was an obvious choice from within – Lynn Hall. The three formed a strong partnership.
In late 2006 Handel decided to semi-retire, stepping down as principal but continuing to work part time listing and selling. By gradually bringing in partners from inside the business he had created a clear exit strategy, making retirement a natural progression and an easy transition.
In 2008 world economics were rapidly declining but Lynn saw it as an opportune time for growth. She attended a regional training session that confirmed her initial thoughts. Together she and Stephen decided a local real estate business they already had a good relationship with might be suitable for a successful merger. Lynn met with one of the partners and discussed the possible benefits a merger could have for both businesses. As Lynn was about to leave for a vacation overseas Stephen continued the discussions.
Plenty of options were offered to the other business owners and they were given the space to make their own decisions. One of the partners, Tim, decided he was happy to sell his share. Brett was not sure, but after several meetings he decided he would also sell.
The final arrangement included Stephen and Lynn purchasing the rent roll, as well as taking over the other office’s premises and most of their employees. Tim and Brett both decided to join the Ray White team as independent contractors.
Tim is currently on a long overdue holiday, while Brett operates his own business within the Ray White business. Having the two principals join Ray White made the merger of the two office teams a simpler proposition.
The new, bigger business opened its doors in March 2009, the tenth anniversary of Ray White Echuca’s first opening. A sizeable marketing campaign was run to announce their new position as the dominant real estate business in the local area. Their new size attracted another successful local salesperson soon after, as well as an additional 14 new property managements – the fastest rate of growth ever experienced for the business. Amalgamating the teams also resulted in a 25% reduction in fixed overheads due mostly to a massive cost saving on rent.
Stephen has been there since the beginning, albeit in different roles along the way. He says in terms of the merger, his only regret is not doing it sooner. He believes the key reason for the successful outcome is that all the principals involved got on well and had respect for each other. They’d done conjunction sales before and the both offices were good, ethical businesses.
“My advice to anyone considering any sort of business merger is to be flexible, don’t think about it in terms of one business taking over another.”
“Look at the staff and the culture. If your business is good and theirs is not, it spells trouble.”
“Deciding to relocate our existing business to the other office’s site was the hardest part of the merger. We had to fit-out part of the office and organize the smooth transition of technology. After a couple of 16 hour days we were thinking “What have we done?” but looking back now, it was a good decision and absolutely the right thing to do” Stephen says.
Stephen and Lynn have made every effort to integrate the businesses – even down to running optional “bootcamp” sessions for staff to focus on their health and fitness and having the added side benefit of improving team morale.
Since the merger, the Ray White Echuca duo has actively looked for other options to grow their business through merger or acquisition, but so far have not found any good fits with their culture and business practice.
With such an evolution in ownership and composition in a relatively short space of time, we’re tipping Ray White Echuca will be one business to watch.
